Curbside Junking Vintage Finds (best ever)

Curbside junking, or picking, is a great way to collect vintage to repurpose and refresh. Come along and see my latest finds!

What’s better than going to a great vintage junk secondhand sale? Getting it all for free:) Yes, that’s what curbside cleanup days in my town has gifted me with for many years (10+ for sure). It was how I kept a good stock of “potential” to fill my former store and booth in my selling days. Last year was the first year I skipped, trying hard to “empty” out. So this year, I needed to make up for lost time, and fill up all that space I had emptied! Join along as I share my Curbside Junking Vintage Finds (best ever).

Curbside Junking Vintage Finds (best ever)

Junk when the Weather’s Good

Curbside Cleanup days usually happen in the Spring in my area. The weather can be great or horrible. Sometimes the tulips are popping and the crabapple’s are blooming, and sometimes there’s freezing rain and snow. This year was somewhere in between.

Gloves are a necessity when digging through curbside piles, and all the more this year when the bad germs are threatening everywhere! I always have wipes and an antibacterial bottle close by, even before worries of diseases were around. I did have to be a little more strategic when I needed to go for a potty break, though!

Mr. Fix-it indulged me by joining in on the first day. I can’t tell you how excited I was to find my first ever vintage typewriter when I asked him to see what was in that little black suitcase! It’s a Royal and is in beautiful shape!

I posted a few videos on my Instagram highlights. You can follow me at @lorabcreateandponder, and click on the little circle that says “Junk Hunt”(think you need to be on your phone to see the whole thing). I have a long way to go with video; I promise I’ll get better in the future!

Here are the vintage finds we found curbside junking the first day. Each day I went, I snapped a picture of my haul to share with you (and to remember what I’ve got piled into the porch).

The 3 tall windows with amazing latches were in almost the first pile we came to; I knew it would be a good day! The cute painted table legs have a vintage linoleum tabletop in gray with red. We had to separate them to get it in and I forgot to put the tabletop in the pic. I also picked up a beefy, pretty oak table that I immediately brought in to use as my new desk; you’ll see it eventually.

As usual, as it was getting dark and the van was almost completely full, we came across a huge piece that had to come home with us. Time to re-shuffle the entire load:( I kept saying, “I wish we had the trailer”!

A vintage ice chest on legs…in my favorite green! Mr. Fix-it did some searching and found out it was made by a company in Duluth, MN, right in our own state. I can’t wait to make that rust beautiful and use this giant for vintage-styled storage!

Pack Junk Tightly as You Go

As you pack your treasured junk finds into your vehicle, pack tightly and efficiently as you go. Inevitably you will find a large, very cool piece that you need to get in. It helps so much if you’ve packed tightly all along and kept things to the sides.

The second day when I was by myself, sure enough, I landed on a whole curb-full of beautiful furniture pieces. As I tried to get it all in, another junker said, “It’s like a Jenga game”. Which I repeated to myself the whole day, trying to fit all I found into the van!

Lots of rectangular pieces made this load quite tricky to fit. I can’t wait to give these furniture pieces a makeover!

Between all the days, I added 5 vintage suitcases to my stash, plus another great trunk. This straight-from-Germany burgundy suitcase has it’s owner’s name on both ends. The wood strips wrapped around, along with some old stickers had me scooping this one up fast!

Unload and Go Back for More if You Have To

All those big, rectangular furniture pieces filled up my van so quickly, I had to head home and empty out. Luckily, Mr. Fix-it was in the mood to go again when he got home from work. It was quite the date night…

Just when we were all full…once again, I spotted something big that had to come home with me! Usually the scrappers get to all the metal pieces before me, but this year the scrapyards were closed (along with everything else). I had all the great vintage metal junk for myself!

I love vintage metal awnings. I’m always tempted to walk up to old houses and ask the homeowners if they’d sell their’s to me. This long awning is the same style and pitch as the one we put over our garage service door, that used to hang in my former store. {see it in “Repurposed Croquet Mallet Head Wreath”} Don’t know where it will land yet, but it got strapped to the top of the van!

Pick Up What Will Fit…You Can Always Change Your Mind

Unfortunately, there’s always pieces I can’t fit in, or I don’t have the skills to fix. I’m hoping someday I’ll get good at reupholstery, because it kills me to have to pass up so many awesome vintage furniture pieces. This old daybed had me salivating. I’d never seen anything like it, but once again…”We should have had the trailer!” (He was so happy we didn’t;)

Then there are finds that aren’t necessarily my style, but I know they’re cool and they’re worth something. I’m keeping the mantel clock on top, but the German cuckoo clocks are not really my thing. If you’re interested in purchasing, email me & I can send you more pics (contact info up top). Otherwise I’ll pop them on FB marketplace and send them to a good home! How could I let them go to a garbage pile?

We have a saying when we’re junking: Anything can be scrapped or burned. If we get it home and regret it, we can sell it, burn it, or scrap it. Usually though, if it comes home, it’s something I want to bring back to life because I can see it’s POTENTIAL:)

Vintage Junk Finds for Every Season

The last day Happy Girl went with me. It was slim pickings in the neighborhood slice we were in, but we still managed to bring home a load. It turned out to be quite the Holiday assortment!

Loved the vintage workbench we picked up! Maybe someday it will get repurposed into a bar with stools around, but for now it went directly to the workshop. It was the perfect height for Mr. Freckles to build a router table on!

And the little cardboard box on the ladder? It put a smile on my face when I opened it!

It’s contents quickly became our Easter centerpiece! {see it on my IG feed HERE}. And follow while you’re there!

For more Curbside Junking Adventures:

“Curbside Junking Finds”

“Curbside Junking Adventures and Tips”

Did you enjoy the treasure hunting adventure? What pieces would you have definitely picked up? Can you imagine all these great vintage finds going to a landfill? It’s like throwing history away. I’m sure there was more than usual this year because even the thrift stores are closed and won’t take contributions. I’ve got so many fun projects to work on, I can hardly decide what to do first!

If you enjoyed Curbside Junking Vintage Finds (the best) and want to follow along with all the transformations, be sure to become a Lora B Insider down below!

Sharing at these lovely parties:

Tuesday Turn About

Vintage Charm

All About Home

Farmhouse Friday

DIY Salvaged Junk Projects